Servicemaster Of Roanoke

This is in response to the complaint filed on 03/11/This claim was received during a period when we were dealing with a high volume of catastrophic water damage claims, due to frozen pipes, and were working extended hours and weekends in an effort to handle all of the claimsConsidering the circumstances, most of our customers were willing to work with us on arrival times, and were appreciative that we were making an effort to help them We interviewed the technicians who handled the claim and the office staff who spoke to the customers to coordinate the workNo one remembers promising them that we would be returning at 9:AM on Monday, 03/09, to finish the workWe would never tell a customer that their job is not a priority, and it is our intent to inform customers of any changes to the scheduleOn Tuesday afternoon, the project manager inspected the loss, and called the customerWe had a crew working at a location in [redacted] County, and they were to come to the [redacted] site after completing that assignmentThe crew gave the project manager an ETA of 5:PM, but ran into unexpected delays, and did not arrive until 8:PMAt that point, the homeowner would not allow the crew to complete the workThe project manager reached out to the customer, who informed him that we had been removed from the jobWe returned to pick up the trash, but were not allowed to pick up our equipment until 03/ The customer told the project manager that the contractor they were using had looked at the job, and knew what was needed to complete the projectSince we were not allowed to finish, any residual odor is the responsibility of the contractor they chose to finish the work Finally, we apologize for the miscommunication and any inconvenience it may have caused

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
Regards,
*** ***
I feel that the business did give misleading information. The employees that stopped by on the 8th promised my wife and I that there would be a crew that would come back at 9:an on Monday the 8th. After they did not show up on time we called and were informed that we were not even on the schedule. Who are we to believe? We were told two different things by two different people., We were told that they would be there on two other occasions the next day, one at 9:am and the other time at 5:pm. we were finally told that they would be there at 8:pm, At which time we told them not to show up as they were only going to send one person who had worked all day. We have children that we needed to get to bed and since the flood occurred in our bedroom, my wife and I were sleeping in the living room right above where the gentleman would be working. My wife and I both work and we felt that the noise of the gentleman working would be too distractful. The comment about not being able to pick up the equipment is a little misleading. We were informed that it would be okay for the equipment could stay here while we made up our minds whether to keep them to finish the job. My wife and I had deceided to not employ them and we were not comfortable letting them into our house without us being there. We have small dogs and given there lack of dependability in keeping their scheduled aptwould have meant keeping them in their kennels all dayPlus we had lost our trust in them being in our home unsupervised. When the gentleman from *** *** came by to access the damage, he told us based on the type of water damage, which he described as a 3(I apologize, I can't recall the exact term that he used) that it was something that should have been cleaned immediately. Since he was the Vice President of the Company I feel comfortable with what he said. Plus he took photos along with our insurance adjuster so I feel comfortable with what he told us. We were told by Servicemaster that there was cleaning, which we found out later that was not done. Again our insurance company has pcitures. When *** came by to pick up his equipment he was very professional and apologigtic. But he blamed everything on scheduling. I understand they were busy but given that we had water damage from a sewer clog, they should have taken care of us first and do a high quality. An example that we gave *** was the moving crew, who was taken our furniture to storage, showed us and him some crud from the flood on the bottom of our couch. At this point I just want acknowledgement that they screwed up and take responsibility. I hope that this complaint helps avoid problems like this for other people in the future

This is in response to the complaint filed on 03/11/15. This claim was received during a period when we were dealing with a high volume of catastrophic water damage claims, due to frozen pipes, and were working extended hours and weekends in an effort to handle all of the claims. Considering the...

circumstances, most of our customers were willing to work with us on arrival times, and were appreciative that we were making an effort to help them.
We interviewed the technicians who handled the claim and the office staff who spoke to the customers to coordinate the work. No one remembers promising them that we would be returning at 9:00 AM on Monday, 03/09, to finish the work. We would never tell a customer that their job is not a priority, and it is our intent to inform customers of any changes to the schedule. On Tuesday afternoon, the project manager inspected the loss, and called the customer. We had a crew working at a location in [redacted] County, and they were to come to the [redacted] site after completing that assignment. The crew gave the project manager an ETA of 5:00 PM, but ran into unexpected delays, and did not arrive until 8:45 PM. At that point, the homeowner would not allow the crew to complete the work. The project manager reached out to the customer, who informed him that we had been removed from the job. We returned to pick up the trash, but were not allowed to pick up our equipment until 03/16.
The customer told the project manager that the contractor they were using had looked at the job, and knew what was needed to complete the project. Since we were not allowed to finish, any residual odor is the responsibility of the contractor they chose to finish the work.
Finally, we apologize for the miscommunication and any inconvenience it may have caused.

Review: On thursday March 5th, our basement flooded due to a swere line clog that flooded all four houses on our side of the street. Our next door neighbor contacted Service Masters and told them about the problem with both our basements. The next morning We talked to a nice young man named [redacted]. He patiently came over and looked at our basement and took measurements and told us what we needed to do and how they would proceed. He was very professional and treated us with understanding and respect. We then proceeded to contact our insurance company and received a claim number and permission to get started. We spoke to a person in their office and was told that they were booked solid on Saturday but they would have somebody there at 9:00 am on Sunday. They wer late and did not get there until 10:00. The young men who were there on Sunday, while polite, were not as professonal as [redacted]. They told us some things that contradicted what [redacted] said. For example, [redacted] said that Service Masters would bag up our clothes that were downstairs and have them drycleaned as a result of the possible containation. the young men told us that Service Masters did not do that. They were, in my opinion, more interested in leaving early because it was Sunday instead of listening to our concerns. They left around 4:00 (app.) promising to have a crew there at 9 on Monday morning to finish up. This process would involve taking out some of our drywall and drying and sanitizing everything. Monday morning came and they were not there. My wife spoke to the crew chief, [redacted], who told us that we were not on the schdule for that day. And that is after to talking to somebody at the office who told us that somebody else was a priority over us. We were then promised that somebody would be there tuesday morning to do the work. Nobody was there. My wife spoke to [redacted] again and he stopped by around two to inspect the basement and he assured us that somebody would be there around 5:00 that evening. Nobody came. We received a voicemail from one of the workers saying that they would be there around 8:45 that evening. We spoke to a supervisor and told her that was unacceptable. We have fired them. We had another company that came in today and told us that stuff in the basement was not properly santized or cleaned. Some of the stuff that Service Masters threw in our yard appeared salvagable to them. Service Masters was very unprofessional, outside of [redacted], they constantly kept pushing us back and making excuses for not doing their job. We are worried about mold and potential other damage due to the water and the delay in getting this taken care of. Our insurance company is aware of the problem and our adjusters have been contacted. Our house still smells.Desired Settlement: In addition to an apology I feel that Serice Masters should not charge us or our insurance company for what little work they did. I also think they should reimburse us for any expense that we encounter because of their lack of professionalism in doing their job.

Business

Response:

This is in response to the complaint filed on 03/11/15. This claim was received during a period when we were dealing with a high volume of catastrophic water damage claims, due to frozen pipes, and were working extended hours and weekends in an effort to handle all of the claims. Considering the circumstances, most of our customers were willing to work with us on arrival times, and were appreciative that we were making an effort to help them.

We interviewed the technicians who handled the claim and the office staff who spoke to the customers to coordinate the work. No one remembers promising them that we would be returning at 9:00 AM on Monday, 03/09, to finish the work. We would never tell a customer that their job is not a priority, and it is our intent to inform customers of any changes to the schedule. On Tuesday afternoon, the project manager inspected the loss, and called the customer. We had a crew working at a location in [redacted] County, and they were to come to the [redacted] site after completing that assignment. The crew gave the project manager an ETA of 5:00 PM, but ran into unexpected delays, and did not arrive until 8:45 PM. At that point, the homeowner would not allow the crew to complete the work. The project manager reached out to the customer, who informed him that we had been removed from the job. We returned to pick up the trash, but were not allowed to pick up our equipment until 03/16.

The customer told the project manager that the contractor they were using had looked at the job, and knew what was needed to complete the project. Since we were not allowed to finish, any residual odor is the responsibility of the contractor they chose to finish the work.

Finally, we apologize for the miscommunication and any inconvenience it may have caused.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Regards,

I feel that the business did give misleading information. The employees that stopped by on the 8th promised my wife and I that there would be a crew that would come back at 9:00 an on Monday the 8th. After they did not show up on time we called and were informed that we were not even on the schedule. Who are we to believe? We were told two different things by two different people., We were told that they would be there on two other occasions the next day, one at 9:00 am and the other time at 5:00 pm. we were finally told that they would be there at 8:30 pm, At which time we told them not to show up as they were only going to send one person who had worked all day. We have children that we needed to get to bed and since the flood occurred in our bedroom, my wife and I were sleeping in the living room right above where the gentleman would be working. My wife and I both work and we felt that the noise of the gentleman working would be too distractful. The comment about not being able to pick up the equipment is a little misleading. We were informed that it would be okay for the equipment could stay here while we made up our minds whether to keep them to finish the job. My wife and I had deceided to not employ them and we were not comfortable letting them into our house without us being there. We have 3 small dogs and given there lack of dependability in keeping their scheduled apt. would have meant keeping them in their kennels all day. Plus we had lost our trust in them being in our home unsupervised. When the gentleman from [redacted] came by to access the damage, he told us based on the type of water damage, which he described as a 3(I apologize, I can't recall the exact term that he used) that it was something that should have been cleaned immediately. Since he was the Vice President of the Company I feel comfortable with what he said. Plus he took photos along with our insurance adjuster so I feel comfortable with what he told us. We were told by Servicemaster that there was cleaning, which we found out later that was not done. Again our insurance company has pcitures. When [redacted] came by to pick up his equipment he was very professional and apologigtic. But he blamed everything on scheduling. I understand they were busy but given that we had water damage from a sewer clog, they should have taken care of us first and do a high quality. An example that we gave [redacted] was the moving crew, who was taken our furniture to storage, showed us and him some crud from the flood on the bottom of our couch. At this point I just want acknowledgement that they screwed up and take responsibility. I hope that this complaint helps avoid problems like this for other people in the future.